Home Sweet Home Page

How to Fix the 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers, and Coaches Makes with Their Website's Homepage

Carma Spence

• Publisher: DragonWyze Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780998531113
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Activité entrepreneuriale

How to Increase Book Sales, Get More Speaking Gigs and/or Attract More Coaching Clients with your Website

... Without Having to Get a Web Design Degree or Learn Coding

... Even If You're Terrible at Web Stuff Don't Have a Lot of Time and Just Want to Hand this Web Stuff Over to a Virtual Assistant

This is your business.

This is your website.

You need to understand what makes it effective so that you know that your web designer and virtual assistant are doing a good job.

But you don't need to know the design theory behind it. You don't need to know the coding that makes it happen. You don't need to spend a lot of time learning any of that stuff... you just need to know what to do and the basics of how to do it so that you can hand this off to people who love all the technical stuff.

That's why I wrote Home Sweet Home Page, to give you the basics you need to know in simple, accessible, and easy to implement language that you can understand.

The first edition helped many authors, speakers, and coaches make their websites more effective.

This second edition updates the content from the original book and adds in additional information you need to know in the 2020s.

For a special video related to this chapter, scan the QR code with your phone or go to CarmaRecommends.com/hshpmistake1

Deadly Mistake #1:

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Not Being Clear on Your
Website’s Purpose

You’ve probably heard this before, but if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. This is very true of your website’s homepage, too. If you are not clear about what you are trying to accomplish, how can you expect your visitor to know what to do when they come to your website? If you are not clear on what you are trying to achieve with your website, then you are most likely to achieve nothing at all.

So, you need to create a mission and vision statement for your website, most likely it will be very similar to the mission and vision statement for your business. You do have those, right?

Well, just in case you don’t, here are the steps you need to take to create them.

Who Is Your Target Market?

Do you have a picture of your ideal client in your head? Have you created a list of qualities that this person possesses? What are the types of things that members of your target market have in common? For example, I serve authors, speakers, coaches, and other information-based service professionals. However, not all people in those groups are ideal clients for me. I’ve added another layer of criteria to my “ideal client.” The people I love to serve and serve the best, have these qualities as well:

• A quirky sense of humor—without that, they probably just wouldn’t “get” me anyway.
• An active inner child—who else will understand my undying love for Tigger?
• Creative and imaginative—I find it too difficult to work with people who don’t nurture their creative spark.
• Open-minded and ready to take action—I don’t have time to work with people who will fight me all the way and won’t take the actions necessary to benefit from my advice.

Now, does that mean I won’t take on clients who don’t fit these criteria to the letter? Of course not. However, because I have this quirky, imaginative, and action-oriented professional in my mind, it makes it easier for me to create marketing messages that will speak to that type of person.

Therefore, first, you need to be clear on whom it is that you serve. Then you need to understand what keeps them up at night.

What Does Your Target Market Want… That Only You Can Help Them With?

Your homepage must speak to your target market’s greatest fears and most cherished desires. Therefore, you have to know what they are. And you need to focus on those specific fears and desires that only you can help them with.

Now, that doesn’t mean you have to be the only one in your field providing that type of service. For example, there are plenty of self-improvement authors, inspirational speakers and life coaches out there. But each individual brings to those services a uniqueness, a special something that is born out of their life’s journey, their passions, and their personality. And therefore, each individual will attract clients and customers who most resonate with that particular combination of qualities that make that author, speaker, or coach distinctive.

For example, my favorite author is Ray Bradbury—I’ve even met him in person. However, many people out there are not fond of his poetic, dreamy style of writing. And that’s O.K. They aren’t his target market!

Keep this in mind: If someone does not like or “get” what you have to offer, that’s O.K. That person is not in your target market and you wouldn’t want to work with them anyway! So don’t be afraid to let your personality shine in your marketing materials and your website—by doing this you are more likely to attract your ideal clients and weed out the people you were not meant to serve anyway.

What Is Your Website’s Job?

Now, let’s get clear on the purpose of your website. This may seem like a silly thing to think about—your website’s purpose is to grow your business, right?

Yes, but in what way? Do you want your website to increase your visibility? Establish your brand? Make a sale? Collect visitor information? Establish your expertise?

Depending on your answer, your homepage can look completely different! So let’s talk about the different kinds of websites you can have.

The Branding Website

A branding website focuses on establishing and building a brand. A brand is the perception of a company, product, or service. It is the essence of what will be delivered or experienced through that company, product, or service. It is much larger than a logo, tag line, or jingle. It is an emotion, and more.

For example, Nordstrom’s brand is centered on exquisite customer service. Wal-Mart’s brand is focused on low prices. Pepperidge Farms’ brand is focused on old-fashioned taste and quality. Do you see a trend here? None of these brands truly communicate what they sell. They communicate a value or emotion attached to or achieved by what they sell.

Therefore a branding website needs to communicate this essence, this feeling, this nebulous perception. And it does this through color and image choice, as well as word selection. A website...